Yahoo websites attracted more US visitors than Google in July, according to
the most recent internet traffic numbers.

Confounding analysts' predictions, Yahoo sites attracted 196.6 million unique visitors last month, giving it the biggest audience of any US-based web property and overtaking Google for the first time since May 2011, according to analytics company comScore.

Yahoo's unique visitors were up 21 per cent compared to July of last year, when it came in third behind Google and Microsoft. During the same period, Google sites, (including YouTube), attracted 192.3 million unique visitors, up less than 1 per cent.

Microsoft made third place in July, with 179.6 million unique visitors, followed by Facebook with 142.3 million and AOL with 117.4 million.

Although this is largely symbolic achievement for Yahoo, the news will be welcomed by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who joined in July 2012 and recently laid out the company’s plans to remodel itself in the image of Google.

In an earnings call last month, which revealed mixed results, Mayer noted that page views were rising after more than a year of declines, citing recently refreshed versions of Yahoo mail, weather, sports, news and Tumblr, both on desktop and mobile.

However, the comScore figures do not include Tumblr, (the social networking website Yahoo purchased last year), which pulled in 38.4 million unique visitors of its own in July. They also do not include mobile traffic, according to comScore, which is significant given that Google is still much stronger than Yahoo in mobile.

The figures have raised a few eyebrows among industry commentators, but comScore's Andrew Lipsman told Forbes that Yahoo has never been far behind Google in terms of traffic, so the gain is probably due to seasonal or month-to-month variations.

The figures reflect only the number of visitors to each of the company's various websites, and not how many people use their search engines. Google continues to dominate in search, with 67 per cent of the market in June, according to comScore. Microsoft Bing is ranked second with 17 per cent, followed by Yahoo with 12 per cent.

Yahoo's real challenge is monetising its traffic. Revenues from display advertising, which is still Yahoo's main source of revenue, fell 11 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 to $423 million, and the company has been forced to cut its full-year earnings-and-sales forecast.

“Yahoo owns lots of destination sites – places where people spend lots of time but aren't necessarily looking for anything in particular – whereas Google dominates search, and is able to serve up very relevant advertising and make lots of money in the process,” said Jan Dawson, Chief Telecoms Analyst at Ovum.

“Yahoo needs to find ways to increase the value of its advertising so that it can start to grow revenues and profits again in a big way.”